PhD project: Better Thermoelectric Materials Through High Pressure

Project description

Thermoelectric materials generate an electric voltage when subjected to a temperature gradient. Such materials allow to build reliable and compact electric power generators without moving parts that can operate on various sources of heat. In particular, they can be used to generate electrical power from waste heat of other power generators such as the combustion engines in cars. The reverse process can be used for direct electric refrigeration, e.g. for spot-cooling electronic components. However, thermoelectric devices are presently used only in niche applications, because the conversion efficiency of the known thermoelectric materials is not high enough to make them commercially viable for general use. The application of high pressure has been shown to enhance the thermoelectric properties of several materials. In this project, you will use experimental and/or computational techniques to study the properties of thermoelectric materials at high pressure to pave the way for improved materials of the future.

Project supervisor

  • (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)

The project supervisor welcomes informal enquiries about this project.

Find out more about this research area


What next?

More PhD projects